How To Help Your Kids Control Their Clutter
by Amy Sardone
on Oct 11, 2024
Do your children have trouble keeping their rooms clean? Although kids are great at coming up with excuses for not keeping their rooms clean, one excuse is perfectly valid — they don’t have a system that works for them. Well, here are some ideas you can use to help your kids keep their rooms somewhat more civilized:
- Many kids don’t hang up their clothes because they literally can’t reach the closet rods or hooks. Lower them or install them in more accessible places. And make sure they have enough hangers.
- Set up an organization system. Label drawers, shelves, and baskets with pictures or words… “Shoes,” “Sweaters,” “Socks,” “Games,” “Books,” etc. This provides a designated place for everything and is usually easy.
- Use inexpensive plastic baskets, tackle boxes, and tool boxes to contain and organize smaller items such as art supplies, toy cars, blocks, action figures, and trading cards.
- What you view as junk may be your child’s treasure. Go through the current collection of trinkets (e.g. Happy Meal toys) with your child to whittle it down to the “must keep” stuff, and put the rest in a container of its own. Let your child know that when the container is full, it’s time to purge.
- Keep a waste basket in your child’s room, and a laundry basket as well. This makes it easier for your child to be tidy and for you when it comes time to clean and gather laundry.
- You can take it one step further and give them a simple cleaning kit of their very own. For young children, a duster and small whisk broom with a dust pan would be a good choice.
By providing your children with the means of keeping organized now, the better the chances are that they will be organized later in life.
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